So Spain won it all in the end, and with me being an avid Holland supporter, I did feel some disappointment at them having lost the final. I have to admit the tactics they used were a bit dirty, wanting to disrupt the Spanish passing game, but I didn't really like everyone's response afterwards, saying that Spain 'deserved' to win the tournament; they lost their opening game to Switzerland for crying out loud, while Holland were unbeaten in both the run-up to the final and their qualifying games! There was a long debate between friends of mine on my facebook status, with friends sharing my sympathies and accusing others of not being true football fans for not feeling some sadness at Holland losing. Holland remains the best team never to have won the World Cup, and they deserve much better judging by the number of high quality players they've fielded throughout history.
One of the more bizarre stories emerging from the World Cup has been of a match-predicting octopus. I can't believe how stupid people can get, believing that just because a hungry octopus chooses food from a box with a country's flag on it, that it knows that the team will win. What I find more absurd is how long news agencies allowed the story to go on for.
The field near my grandma's
I went paintballing with a bunch of Imperial guys, first and second year medics. When it came to sorting the teams out, I found myself with all the inexperienced people doing it for their first time. But it didn't matter; by the end the other team were sulking because we'd beaten them badly, them claiming we were 'camping'. And for those who don't who don't know, camping means to sit somewhere and wait for people to come so you can easily get the kill. What we did was think tactically and use the advantage we'd gained by winning the round before to employ more defensive tactics and let them bring the flag to us (it was a capture-the-flag-and-take-it-to-the-opposition's-base setup). Just for one round did we employ these tactics, but they carried on moaning about it. Still, it was a fun day, and after initially thinking we'd get battered by the ruthless paintball veterans, I left with a pleasant feeling of victory: real, hard-earnt victory that relied on teamwork.
One definite highlight of this month was going to Wales for a few days, staying at my friend Annas' house. Although the weather a lot of the time was terrible (what did we expect, it was Wales!), we still managed to see all the places my friend hung out at, as well as watch a very forgettable Predators film. But most of the time we stayed at his house and played Pro Evo (I'd much rather have preferred Fifa, a preference I'd made as audibly as possible after my every match loss). One of the more memorable cinema experiences I had was watching Inception (not in Wales... I've changed the subject now), and I'm sure I don't need to go on saying how great a film it is. Truly a masterpiece!
I've been to the park a few times, taking advantage of the weather as much as possible. A few of us from uni met and soaked up the Regent's Park sun, playing with the various balls and frisbees we'd all brought, before deciding to make a funny film with the cameras we had. All was going well with filming multiple takes of one scene (we knew this could be a comedy masterpiece), until memory cards started filling up and batteries run out, causing us to cut filming short and promise to return more prepared with more props and better script ideas. Another park trip involved meeting up with friends to train for the half marathon we signed up for in October, but since we hadn't seen each other for a while, the lap we did of hyde park involved more conversational strolling than jogging. Still, a half marathon hardly needs training for, does it? And what's summer without the obligatory trip to the zoo with my mum and little brother? We saw all the usual animals, taking into account the feeding times advertised, and I could comfortably say that otters are by far the most interesting/adorable, feeding time or not! (which is why they were the subject of my AS level psychology observation). There were so many spectators watching the penguins get fed it was almost impossible to see anything, and the area where the monkeys were free to roam amongst visitors was much more lively than when we last visited.
I've been on a few outings with my friend who I went to Scotland with, and calling him a car enthusiast is definitely an understatement. Cars and motorsport are practically his only hobby, but I was flabbergasted by what I saw when we stopped outside his home: a Porsche 968 parked outside his garage door, seemingly unused and looking absolutely stunning mashaallah! We took it out to our bowling trip in central London, and the roar of the engine was too phenomenal, like it was a caged tiger wanting to be unleashed. Driving past prompted looks from passers by, and I can almost understand why some socially-depraved individuals resort to buying expensive cars to compensate for their lack of personality. It was an old Porsche which certainly had character; the white leather seats fashioned to give maximum comfort to your body. All in all it was a very cool experience indeed!
From what I could not imagine to be a more unique experience that riding in my first Porsche came the next unique experience: riding in a Porsche around a racetrack! And not a normal run-of-the-mill racetrack at that; this was Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix! After arriving quite late (as is the theme with my friend and his outings, which is how we completely missed the Farnborough air show), we were briefed, I was given a tyre-smelling 'passenger' bracelet with the Porsche name on it (this was a track day specifically for Porsche club members by the way), and before we got onto the track, I had a chance to see some other cars speed along the start line straight. Most of the cars were flashy customised 911s, but there were a couple of lotuses and an amazing Ford GT40, and I even I know that that was one classic car! We got talking with the co-owners of the Ford, people who run a classic car refurbishment company, and they said it was worth a million pounds! Such a beauty, and for a person who's not really 'into' cars, this whole day was turning out to be a once-in-a-lifetime moment, with me getting my video camera out every few minutes to record something new.
As you could probably guess, all the Porsche owners looked as if they had a bit of spare change, and I tried to blend in at lunchtime, flashing my wristband at the Porsche centre (which apparently wasn't the one that said you were a member, but I let my swift walking and air of indifference grant me entry past the steward). Inside they had a few old cars, and upstairs was where the food was being served, with me being surprised at how free everything was, feeling quite guilty when I asked for a posh bottle of orange juice without paying for it. Whilst sitting down at a table, I scanned the room to look for the most likely candidate who earlier made us skid off the track and onto the gravel; the rules were that there was to be no overtaking on corners, but there a few
So with the month drawing to a close and loads of friends going on holiday, leaving me here, I decided to cheer myself up by finally buying a new laptop, and leave the expensive touch-screened former love of mine to be fixed another day. This month will also be remembered for my brother when he 'bus case' (as my friend colloquially puts it); found not guilty for carrying an offensive weapon during that protest at the end of 2008, with our martial arts expert a tad bit more experienced than the prosecution's (holding the world record for the number of black belts: more than 40!). And oh yes, a new season with Cricklewood United was approaching fast; could we improve on last season's display, and more importantly, could we afford to play another season with the student budgets we all had?
[This blog post has taken absolutely ages to slowly write out, and I set it to the 16th of August just to make me feel better. It was probably the day I decided to start :P]
My month in status updates:
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